Hate being stalked by Facebook? Why not try Google+ stalking

Google is fattening up its single sign-in feature that was opened up to mobile and web apps in February. This is the feature that allows netizens to use their Google+ usernames and passwords to log into accounts on third-party systems.

The web giant said developers who use "social infrastructure platforms" Janrain and Gigya - which work with big brands including, er, justinbiebermusic.com, the BBC, Samsung and MTV - could now accept Google+ logins to authenticate their users.

Google+, while attracting interesting and lengthy technical discussions here and there, still appears to be a barren wasteland compared to the seething mass that is Facebook. Mountain View execs are still struggling to give their social-network-sorta thing a proper label. One Google wonk even recently described Google+ as a "networky thing".

By expanding its single sign-in function to well-known brands, Google continues to crisscross Google+ across the web in order, ultimately, to better target adverts at online consumers: wherever you go with that Google login, the ad giant is not far behind.

Facebook Connect is a similar platform that is used by thousands of websites to allow users to sign-in with the free content ad network's single sign-in, thereby beaming important profile signals back to Mark Zuckerberg's ranch. ®